The books are funny and sad and that's what people respond to.

It's sad when you can't make everyone happy though. It's impossible but at the same time you still hope. You think 'Maybe I can do it ' but you know you can't. But gosh if I had to rely on giving people what they wanted I would have had to write 40 billion different books and even then I wouldn't get it right.

That is sad until one recalls how many bad books the world may yet be spared because of the busyness of writers.

When I was a teenager I was a total romantic escapist. My world was books.

Writing for children is bloody difficult books for children are as complex as their adult counterparts and they should therefore be accorded the same respect.

I've always had great respect for Paddington because he is amusingly English and eccentric. He is a great British institution and my generation grew up with the books and then Michael Horden's animations.

I think I learned about the relationship between books and life from Margaret Mitchell.

I wasn't smart enough to read relationship books when I was coming up. I learned everything the hard way.

Quentin and I were constantly finding something new that we had in common and comic books were one of them. I think we were talking about comic books much earlier in our relationship before I had the part.

Teenage readers also have a different relationship with the authors whose work they value than adult readers do. I loved Toni Morrison but I don't have any desire to follow her on Twitter. I just want to read her books.